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It used to be that kids' sports were just plain fun. Now, they're considered a portal to bigger and better things, such as athletic scholarships and bursaries, an Olympic berth or a pro contract.

To be fair, that's not what most parents are thinking when they first enrol their child in a sports program. But if that child shows promise early, it's not long before he or she is practising four to five nights a week during a season that never seems to end.

By early adolescence, that commitment has blossomed into a six-day-a-week schedule of training and competition that spans 11 months a year.

And then there’s the so-called off season, where kids are enrolled in sport-specific camps or working out with a personal trainer to build the muscle, speed and agility needed to maximize performance.

"More young athletes are training year-round," said Erika Persson, a pediatric sport medicine physician whose practice is based out of the Glen Sather Sports Medicine Clinic in Edmonton. "They’re also specializing in sports at an earlier age.

Children’s bodies respond to training differently from adults. Growth plates in the knees, feet and shoulders make these body parts particularly vulnerable to overuse. And then there’s the awkwardness and lack of body awareness and control that is prevalent in growing children, all of which increases the risk of injury among young athletes.

This vulnerability to injury runs contrary to the repetition considered necessary to develop skill in young athletes. So, while coaches demand that athletes repeat the same movement patterns over and over again, health care officials warn of the dangers associated with overuse.

Persson says, despite the call for coaches and sports organizations to put limits on how often kids train, there is very little conclusive research to suggest just how much is too much. Statistics from a variety of sources suggest that about 50 per cent of sports-related injuries in youth are the result of overuse, yet there are few child and sport-specific guidelines regarding prevention.

One of the few sports where extensive research has been done into youth injuries is Little League Baseball. Researchers monitored the arm health of pitchers with respect to pitch counts, types of pitches and quality of mechanics. What they found was that the number of pitches thrown was the most significant contributor to arm injuries in young baseball players.

In 2007, a pitch-count rule was put into effect for players from age seven to 18 with specific limits for each game, based on age. The amount of rest between pitching assignments was also regulated, based on the number of pitches delivered in the previous game.

When it comes to other sports, however, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of formalized guidelines as to how often and how hard kids should train. The American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness recommends limiting single-sport activities to five days a week with at least one scheduled day of rest from all physical activity. It also suggests young athletes have at least two to three months off per year from their particular sport so that their bodies can rest and rebuild.

Persson agrees, but suggests that it’s not just the body that needs rest. Psychological burnout is also common among young athletes. Pushed too hard for too long, children start losing enthusiasm for a sport they used to love playing. Combine that with the general physiological fatigue that comes with overtraining, and young athletes are at increased risk of dropping out for good.

And then there’s the social drawback of spending hours and hours in the gym, pool or arena. Kids need time to be kids. They need to be free to attend birthday parties, school dances and family gatherings — activities that are slowly whittled away from young athletes on strict training and competition schedules.

Persson points out that there is little evidence to suggest that the earlier the start and the more dedicated the training, the better the athlete in the long run. She suggests that kids who specialize early will end up achieving the same goals as those who play more than one sport or take more than one day off from training a week. Many athletic skills are transferable, which is why several experts suggest that early overall sport development (running, skipping, throwing and catching) makes for better athletes down the road.

The focus of kids' sports shouldn't be on making kids the best they can be. Instead, it should be on long-term skill development that fosters a lifelong love of sport and physical activity, with a long-range plan that will keep kids in the game longer. Too many young athletes burn out before they reach their potential. And many never pull on a bathing suit or pick up a hockey stick again as adults.

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